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New England Patriots training camp: Humble Brian Tyms in 'awe' of chance to play with Tom Brady

Brian Tyms

New England Patriots wide receiver Brian Tyms climbs out of the end-zone seats after landing there following a touchdown catch during the second half of an NFL football preseason game against the Washington Redskins in Landover, Md., Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. The Redskins defeated the Patriots 23-6.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Brian Tyms' favorite player growing up was Randy Moss. So much so that Moss was also one of the reasons why the wideout signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted rookie in 2012.

It was there that a 35-year-old Moss was finishing out his future Hall of Fame career.
"I wanted to learn everything I could from him," Tyms said of Moss after the New England Patriots concluded training camp practice Sunday. "He's a really good guy. He taught me a lot as far as the deep ball and everything like that."

What Tyms learned from Moss has stayed with him through stops with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns. And it's now on display as the 25-year-old vies for a roster spot with the Patriots, where Moss spent over three seasons not so long ago.

But it was more than Moss' tutelage that drove Tyms to catch five passes for 119 yards in New England's preseason opener against the Washington Redskins Thursday night; it was the road he's traveled to get this far.

"I got all this baggage on my back, that everybody said I couldn't do it, said I wouldn't be here," Tyms said. "I got cut, everybody said I was never going to make it, so every day I just try to come out here and when the balls thrown I just try to make a play on it."

His resilience delves far beyond the game, though. Tyms was in foster care. He had his clothes in trash bags and was living out of his car by the time he was 18. And those experiences will never leave his memory.

"I think about that every day. My fiance will tell you, I bought my first car with my own money, I cried. I was like, 'it's mine,'" Tyms said.

"But I had a lot of good friends, really, really good friends, and some of my foster family. They didn't have to give in to me -- we're not blood related -- but they felt for me," added Tyms. "They recognized the hard work I was trying to put in to get myself out of the situation that I was in. And they'd help with me with food, shower, or spend a couple nights, a couple weeks. But it wasn't easy, man. I couldn't even tell you how I did it. Just faith."

The 6-foot-3, 204-pound Kent, Wash., native made his way to Broward Community College, and then to Florida A&M as a walk-on, where he totaled 38 receptions for 538 yards and three touchdowns as a redshirt senior.

Since then, Tyms has ventured from San Francisco to Miami's practice squad before Cleveland claimed him. And it was there that he totaled his first two NFL receptions for 12 yards over seven games in 2013.

But Cleveland released Tyms in February after the NFL informed the organization that he would be suspended for the first four games of 2014 for violating the league's substance abuse policy regarding banned substances.

Tyms, who's been taking a prescription for ADHD since he was a child, didn't know where his next opportunity would be. He didn't know if he'd have a next opportunity. Yet as he gathered in the Patriots offensive huddle on Sunday, he was reminded that he has one. One that seemed distant six months ago.

Standing in as Tom Brady delivered the play call brought it to his attention.

He had to pinch himself.

"Today I did," Tyms said of pinching himself. "I mean at first, after walkthrough I was kind of like staring at him, like, 'I'm actually in the huddle with Tom Brady.' As a kid you'd play with him on video games, like 'oh, I got Tom Brady, you can't stop me.' I'm out here, I'm hearing Tom call the plays and I'm just kind of in awe."

Tyms knows that the chance to do so is not taken lightly. He knows that he has to keep his focus on the task at hand, doing what he can to catch every pass thrown his way.

"As a football player, as a professional, you've got to bottle that in and just play, because [Brady] expects you to know what you're going to do, and to move at his tempo and to make plays," Tyms said.

No. 84 is striving to look the part. Putting in the time, after just two weeks with the team, has helped him play it.

"I'm really hard on myself with studying," Tyms said of the offensive nuances. "I think about my past all the time, so before I sit there and say, 'OK, I got it' I'll look at it three or four times. I carry my notebook with me everywhere I go. I read it. I mean I don't really go nowhere. I go home, to the hotel and just read my playbook, talk to my family. That's about it."